Police searching for Abdul Ezedi issued a major update as the manhunt for the acid attacker continues.
The Metropolitan Police said the mother who was attacked with acid alongside her two children had sustained “life-changing” injuries while the alleged attacker remains on the run.
The Metropolitan Police made a personal appeal to Abdul Ezedi to hand himself in during a statement on Friday afternoon.
Confirming that he remained on the run, Commander Jon Savell of Scotland Yard detailed how two homes in East London had been raided as part of the investigation, as well as three in Newcastle.
However, they reaffirmed that the public should not approach Ezedi.
He added: “Last night, five search warrants were executed. Two in east London and three up in Newcastle.
“We’ve recovered important and significant pieces of evidence that will help with our investigation.”
On Wednesday, Ezedi sparked a nationwide manhunt after he was accused of a horrific acid attack on a mother and two girls in south London.
After going on the run, three of the UK’s biggest police forces joined together in a bid to locate the missing man.
Police had warned the public not to approach Ezedi – instead immediately calling 999 if they spotted him.
As a result of the incident on Wednesday night, a 31-year-old woman and her two young children, aged three and eight, were left seriously hurt.
Their injuries saw them doused in liquid on Lessar Avenue, near Clapham Common. A further nine people were injured as they attempted to help the injured trio.
In the hours that have followed the horrifying incident, further details about the 35-year-old man have emerged, including that he was believed to have fled London for Newcastle.
Ezedi is a convicted sex offender and according to the BBC originally hails from Afghanistan.
Giving details of the alleged attacker, Superintendent Gabriel Cameron said in the time since the incident, Ezedi “had significant injuries to the right side of his face”.
Ezedi is believed to have fled the capital, travelling by car up to Newcastle. In a bid for more information, police yesterday released taken around 70 minutes after the attack in Clapham.
Further updates from Superintendent Gabriel Cameron note the reason for the attack is not yet known. He said: “We know it is a corrosive alkaline substance. We can buy all sorts in the high street.”
The police representative had “no idea of the suspect’s motivation” but was “wholeheartedly confident we will catch him”.
According to the Met Police, the mother and young children were still in hospital, with the force’s commissioner Sir Mark Rowley telling BBC Radio London the injuries were “substantial”.
While the conditions are not believed to be life-threatening, they could be “life-changing”, the Met Police said.
The five responding police officers who were injured were taken to hospital and later discharged. Three women, two in their 30s and one in her 50s, were also taken to hospital after they were injured while helping the family. They were discharged with minor burns injuries. A man in his 50s who also helped declined hospital treatment for minor injuries.
